Godox is releasing a round head speedlight to compete with the Profoto A1

This is interesting and pretty cool. It looks like Godox is taking the AD200 round flash head and putting it into a new speedlight. Rob Hall got the chance to take a sneak peek at a prototype unit at Photokina today and put together a video about it.

As I said, this is a prototype, and as such things are subject to change. Rob specifically mentions that this prototype was built with the bottom half of a V860II and that will definitely be changing. It should see a larger LCD and the battery will be likely changing to more standard 18650 cells – which they say offers around a 1.2 second recycle time at full power.

Unlike the round head for the AD200, the big difference with this will be that the head is zoomable, like a traditional speedlight. But the front end is the same diameter as the AD200 head, and it’s also compatible with the magnetic modifiers for the AD200 round head.

Another change from the AD200 round head is that this one contains a couple of LED lights. Although designed to help assist with autofocus, they could potentially be handy in a pinch as an on-camera LED fill light in dim conditions. I’ve shot interviews at indoor events before where the on-camera lights we were using weren’t much more powerful than the LEDs appear in Rob’s video.

The only issue with this flash is how it’s going to fit into a Godox Bowens bracket. Because, to put it simply, it’s not. The bottom end is far too thick to fit through the gap, and there’s no way that head’s going to go through. Hopefully, they’ll release a new bracket to go along with this release that can also accommodate the AD200 & round head, too.

It’s set to be officially announced in November with a release planned for December, so you won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on one of these. No word on price yet, although I’ll bet it’s nowhere close to $1,000.

Good video, just wondering results wise, what difference is there shooting with a round flash to the normal rectangular?

dannytang

I found the round head adapter on my AD200 gave a more even spread of light that a bit softer than the normal speedlight head.

Troublemann

If the pricing stays true for $1000 as mentioned it will be a no go for me, that’s equal to 3 AD200’s. With the prices of the Godox V860II-N currently on Amazon.com $179 and AD200 $299 also on Amazon.com, this round head flash should be priced somewhere in between. , maybe $240 to stay in the middle. A few other speedlight companies have already starting to release speedlights using 18650 cells, it’s just a logical step forward, these type of cells are being used for portable Bluetooth speakers for years and are proving to be superior to AA batteries. Everything will depend on Godox success of creating all of this in a affordable package with enough upgrades to justify a higher price. As mentioned $1000 I will pass. I currently own 3 TT600’s, 1 AD200, AD360, 2 triggers new and old, 3 S brackets and many modifiers, battery packs and cords, so I am vested in Godox and looking forward to the new round head flash.

Hito

Nobody mentioned $1000… that was a reference to the Profoto speedlight..

David

Hopefully they’ll fix all the glitchy stuff with the current 860 II’s that (mostly) occurs when you have two shooters either shooting on the same lights, or separate lights on different channels and groups. THAT would be what I would most like to see. But the new design seems very exciting, and especially exciting if they would take care of these really serious problems. I’ve heard that these glitches are for the most part fixed for the other transmitters, but not on the 860 II’s. Why can’t they get going and provide an update on the firmware??

R. van Bezouw

The Profoto A1 concept (a hybrid between speedlight and strobe) is getting really populair at the moment. I think it is quite funny that Falcon Eyes had this thing called the “SG-100BK” back in 2011, but didn’t seem to get as much attention at the time.

Clinton Lofthouse is a Photographer, Retoucher and Digital Artist based in the United Kingdom, who specialises in creative retouching and composites. Proud 80's baby, reader of graphic novels and movie geek!
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